Planners are meeting today (Wednesday) to decide if a £40million cement works can be built on Sheppey.

Hercules Enterprises is applying to Kent County Council (KCC) to build a plant capable of creating up to 500,000 tonnes of cement a year in Sheerness Docks. Raw materials will be imported through the port.

Swale council has already objected saying the machinery and associated traffic would lead to "unacceptable noise levels" and Sheerness Town Council has "extreme concerns regarding air quality and risk to residents".

The Swale branch of environmental group Friends of the Earth has also objected in the "strongest terms" saying emissions would damage the area's air and water qualities and affect Islanders' health.

It says: "Experience of even the most modern cement manufacturing plants has demonstrated the difficulty in containing the dust."

It adds that silica, gypsum and limestone, all used in the production of cement, are known to damage health, particularly of the elderly and children, and have been linked to cancer and silicosis.

The applicant says modern coverings, sealed pipes and 24-hour water spraying will keep dust to a minimum. It says the project will create up to 52 jobs and represents an investment of £25million for phase one and a further £15 million for phase two.

KCC officers are recommending permission be granted. They say it will be "productive use" of the port's land and berths and accept potential impacts on noise, air pollution and traffic will be "satisfactorily mitigated".

But retired chartered engineer David Orpin who represents Sheppey on the Swale branch of the CPRE (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England) warned: "If this development goes ahead it will be detrimental to the Isle of Sheppey. I can't see how a plant like this won't affect the area. It is a noisy and dirty business.

"With prevailing westerly winds, the dust could affect large parts of Sheerness and Rushenden and even Minster. As the plant gets older, the pollution will become worse, which was the problem we had with the Sheerness steelworks."

For 30 years many residents who lived in the shadow of the steelworks in Brielle Way, Blue Town, suffered from breathing difficulties and often woke to find their cars and washing covered in layers of dust. The plant has since been shut down and demolished.

Mr Orpin said: "I really believed and hoped that those days were long past. Now, just when the world is trying to clean up its act, we are threatened with this. I don't want to see it coming back."

Former newspaper editor David Jones added: "Promises by people who couldn’t care less about Sheppey aren’t worth the paper they are written on. The reality will prove to be very different from the promises."

Hercules Enterprises, which is mostly owned by Spanish group Cementos La Cruz, wants to build a conveyor, four silos, EcoHopper, clinker storage hall, packaging plant, weighbridge and control rooms on the 2.3ha site of reclaimed land on the Lappel Bank.

It is represented in the UK by Stuart Mason-Elliott who chairs Elliott Brothers Ltd, a builder's merchant from Southampton.

In a public notice advert, KCC admitted the proposal "may affect the character and or appearance of the Sheerness Royal Naval Dockyard and Blue Town Conservation Area" and that it may also affect the setting of a listed building.

The highest part of the plant will stand at 52m (173ft).

KCC's conservation officer has suggested a percentage of profits from the scheme should be used to create a fund to conserve and repair key buildings within the dockyard some of which are on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register.